While not everybody viewed it, but because of the global reach of the Internet, we are sure thousands of Filipinos and other nationalities may have watched that AI-initiated video showing the image of President Bongbong Marcos seemingly ordering the Armed Forces of the Philippines to strike against another nation.
Though the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) assured that the deep fake videos using President Marcos’ face and voice have since been taken down, we say that the government should not treat this attempt to muddle its communication network as a laughing matter. Because it isn't.
There are many what-ifs that could have happened as a result of this cyberspace misrepresentation, and the Marcos administration had been duly warned of what its detractors can do.
It was established that the PCO learned about the video featuring the President through its mainstream media and social media platforms monitoring.
Then, the communication office informed the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) and National Security Council (NSC) about the problem, and these two agencies are now actively investigating the issue.
While the President wasn’t surprised by videos intended for fun, the recent posting is already a cause for concern because it could potentially harm relations and sow chaos.
The PCO urged the people to stop spreading fake news, stressing it may lead to serious repercussions and endanger the country’s foreign relations and national security.
“Actually, di ba ang dati po ang problema natin mga— may makikita tayo sa social media na mga quote cards or mga memes lang, ngayon iba na eh. Pati kasi ‘yung boses mayroon na. So, talagang mahalaga na tigilan ‘yung ganitong uri ng fake news dahil may potential itong magdulot ng malubhang pinsala sa ating foreign relations and national security,” an official of the PCO said.
Big and established social media platforms like Google, TikTok, and Meta—which operates Facebook, Instagram and X, expressed willingness to help the government to fight online threats. These platforms are PCO’s partners in its Media and Information Literacy Campaign.
If these socmed platforms are indeed partners of the government, then it should not be too much to ask them to filter out these fake and malicious contents that are obviously detrimental to the administration.
In their effort to destabilize and destroy the Marcos administration, these fake news peddlers have gone overboard. The deepfake Marcos audio was not a simple case of fake news peddling. It was selling war. And they should be pursued unrelentlessly.
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